Pay no attention to the war and dysfunction

With the country burning, Nero Netanyahu and wife are taking a taxpayer-funded jaunt on a long, cozy weekend far from the threat of arrest

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Putting his best face forward (though he’d prefer you not see it at all in these circumstances), Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrives in a Tel Aviv courtroom on April 2, 2025, for another day of his long corruption trial.

All things being relative, the situation in Israel could be worse. But let’s be honest: It’s bad. Horrendous, in fact.

Israeli hostages are purposely being left to rot in Gaza because Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insists that “total victory” over Hamas is more important.

The deadly and draining multifront war has become the longest in Israel’s history. Part of this is because no one really knows what Netanyahu means by “total victory,” and if it’s even possible.

Another reason is that Netanyahu needs the war. He needs it to draw attention away from a corruption trial that could put him behind bars.

The only parties that can keep him in power – where his underlings can finagle legislation neutering the very judiciary that threatens his freedom – are deeply pro-war messianists and far-right-wingers. That’s because only a war can return their voters to Gaza for the purpose of resettling it with Jews.

All of this is costing a fortune, not only in soldiers’ lives and wholeness, but in treasure.

After a year and a half, citizens are sagging under fresh government levies in addition to spiking prices due to powerful business cartels and greedy banks that the government won’t reign in. And let’s not forget the government budgets that year after year favor those who don’t carry their share of the security burden but elect leaders who are savvy enough to prop up Netanyahu as long as he comes up with cash.

Who pays? The people carrying the burden.

All of this is driving a deep wedge among Israelis, the kind that serves Netanyahu well in his quest for continued power through a policy of domestic divide and conquer.

Then there’s the legal front.

As if Netanyahu’s endless corruption trial weren’t enough, several of his political cohorts are also on trial or under investigation over well founded allegations of their own sleaze. But now, an entirely new investigation is wiggling its way up through the ranks of the prime minister’s office.

This one alleges a money-for-influence scheme involving Qatar, a hostile state, and several of the prime minister’s closest aides. It has the potential to go far beyond mere money and work ethics, all the way to serious security violations and, potentially at least, treason.

Did Netanyahu know? It’s said that not a thing goes on in his office without his knowledge (or the knowledge of his political dominatrix of a wife). And if he didn’t know, why didn’t he know? After all, he has smugly stated time and again that he is the most knowledgeable and capable person available to run the country and ensure its future.

THE PRIME MINISTER is making one desperate lunge after another to save his sorry ass from jail, looking more the inept fool with each new effort.

He is twisting himself into a pretzel trying to justify his opposition to a long-overdue independent commission of inquiry into the disaster that befell the country on October 7, 2023. He is placing the blame on everyone but himself.

One of the guilty parties is indeed Ronen Bar, head of the Shin Bet security service, who has admitted his failure and that of his agency and says he will resign once the hostage saga is over.

So Netanyahu removed him from the team heading the hostage negotiations. But almost immediately, news broke that the Shin Bet – which, in its role of providing internal security and counterintelligence, and thus serving as a genuine gatekeeper for the wellbeing of democracy – had been investigating what is now being called “Qatargate.”

The upshot? The prime minister moved to immediately fire Bar. But the nation’s top court found this suspicious and issued a ruling to delay the firing until the government could prove there were no nefarious interests at play.

While the court put Bar’s dismissal on hold, it said Netanyahu could go ahead anyway and interview candidates for his replacement. We are, after all, at war. So what does the prime minister do? He moves ahead and announces his choice: Eli Sharvit, a former commander of the navy. It is a surprise choice if there ever was one, Sharvit’s name never having come up among the endless palaver of the panelists, pundits and talking heads who have come to dominate our media (and generally know what they are talking about).

The surprise announcement also came at a surprising hour – before 8 a.m. – as if Netanyahu had been in some kind of rush, perhaps to show the justices he so despises that not only would he continue his search for Bar’s replacement, he would actually spit in their face and make a choice.

Except it turns out that Sharvit had shown up at a few anti-government rallies. Someone also dug up an article he had written as head of a sustainable energy company in which he trashed US President Donald Trump for his fondness for fossil fuels – something that brought out Republican senator and Trump sycophant Lindsey Graham, who was quickly quoted as saying Sharvit would be a poor choice for the Shin Bet.

All of this elicited howls of protest against Netanyahu from members of his coalition, not to mention his own party. By early afternoon, the prime minister was showing signs of cratering, something he often does when under pressure. The crater was made official in a statement issued the very next morning (though at a more reasonable hour).

WITH THE COUNTRY aflame and in utter dysfunction – with the hostages in Gaza fading fast – Nero Netanyahu, his luxury-loving wife in tow, is taking a long, leisurely weekend in Hungary.

He’ll be meeting, perhaps for an hour, with Prime Minister Viktor Orban, a fascist leader he deeply admires. The rest of the time? He and the missus will be celebrating their wedding anniversary in fine hotels and restaurants – on the Israeli taxpayer’s dime, of course.

Everyone needs a breather. But why Hungary? Perhaps to “get away from it all,” as the cliche goes. To get away, of course, from the things he should be working overtime to address.

To give you an idea of what will be going on around them in Orban’s version of heaven, here’s a snippet from the terrific Anne Appelbaum’s recent piece in The Atlantic:

“Hungary is now one of the poorest countries, and possibly the poorest, in the European Union. Industrial production is falling year-over-year. Productivity is close to the lowest in the region. Unemployment is creeping upward.

“Despite the ruling party’s loud talk about traditional values, the population is shrinking. Perhaps that’s because young people don’t want to have children in a place where two-thirds of the citizens describe the national education system as ‘bad,’ and where hospital departments are closing because so many doctors have moved abroad.

“Maybe talented people don’t want to stay in a country perceived as the most corrupt in the EU for three years in a row.”

Do you think Bibi and Sara will see any of this? Of course not. In fact, what’s most important to them is Orban’s promise not to arrest Netanyahu on a warrant issued by the International Criminal Court. This makes Hungary one of the only European countries where visits pose no risk for the Israeli leader.

Do you think Netanyahu cares that he is leading Israel in a similar direction?

In a word, nah.